Chinese President pledges stronger African ties

China President Xi Jinping pledged during a visit to Senegal to strengthen economic ties with Africa, a continent awash with Chinese loans in exchange for minerals and huge construction projects.

Xi arrived in Senegal on Saturday for a two-day visit to sign bilateral deals, the first leg of an Africa tour that will take him to Rwanda and South Africa, the latter for a summit of BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

China now does more trade with Africa than any other nation and its consistent overtures to the continent contrast sharply with the United States, whose President Donald Trump shows little interest.

The visit was Xi’s first trip to West Africa as president, but his fourth to Africa, he told a joint press conference with Senegalese President Macky Sall after their third meeting.
“Every time I come to Africa, I see the dynamism of the continent and the aspirations of its people for development,” Xi said. “I am confident in the future of Sino-African relations.”

Earlier, Xi was greeted by a brass band and hundreds of people waving Chinese and Senegalese flags and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the two leaders’ faces.

LOADING UP ON CHINESE DEBT

Africa is in the midst of a boom in infrastructure projects, managed and cheaply financed by China, part of Xi’s “Belt and Road” initiative to build a transport network connecting China by land and sea to South-east and Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

China pledged $126 billion for the plan, praised by supporters as a source of vital financing for the developing world. In Senegal, Chinese loans financed a highway linking capital Dakar to Touba, its second main city and part of an industrial park on the Dakar peninsula.

China’s ambassador to Senegal Zhang Xun was quoted by the local press in March as saying China invested $100 million in Senegal in 2017.
“Senegal takes a positive view of China’s role in Africa,” Sall said at the news conference. “For its contribution to peace and stability and equally for financing of budgets.”

Critics say Africa is loading itself up on Chinese debt it may struggle to repay, with estimates ranging in the tens of billions of dollars. That could leave African nations with no choice but to hand controlling stakes in strategic assets to the Chinese state.

US officials warned a port in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, a host to major US and French military bases, could suffer this fate, although Djibouti rejects the fear.

In Guinea one of the world’s poorest nations, China is lending $20 billion to government in exchange for aluminium ore concessions.

As well as trade and minerals, China sees Africa as a source of political support. Chinese diplomacy, as of May this year, succeeded in getting every African country except Swaziland to break diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which China sees as a renegade province.